Side Channel Attacks: How to exploit vulnerabilities of processors? (I'm Tech)
07 September 2022
Side channel attacks exploit confidential information obtained from microarchitecture of general purpose computers, in other terms microprocessors. Maria Mushtaq, researcher in cybersecurity at Telecom Paris, explains how these attacks work and give suggestions to improve computer security.
What are the motivations that can lead to side channel attacks?
Maria Mushtaq: A side-channel attack is a security exploit that aims to gather information from or influence the program execution of a system by measuring or exploiting indirect effects of the system or its hardware rather than targeting the program or its code directly. The latest security vulnerabilities, like Spectre, Meltdown & AEPIC, have demonstrated that security cannot be considered as an afterthought anymore and side channel attacks are very robust and powerful. In matter of some microseconds, an attacker can take control of your whole system.
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